The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [120]
Zulaje stilled her blade and inclined her head. “Then let us test our child of war, Lord Holuar.”
He nodded. “Let the two be joined, and lead them to the labyrinth.”
Zulaje spun, and the tip of her flaming sword stopped an inch from Daine’s face. “Stand,” she said in the Common tongue. “Unnecessary movement brings pain.”
As he stood, the guards escorted Lakashtai over to him. Her hands were not bound, and she reached out and let two fingers trail across the back of his hand—a slight gesture, but he could feel the warmth in it; for her, he knew, it was the equivalent of an embrace. He took the hand and squeezed it, and she smiled slightly. The guards surrounding them lowered their spears, and marched them out of the room.
“Are you well?” Lakashtai said quietly. “You seem to have lost your eyebrows.”
Daine tried to look up, but he couldn’t see. “I had an accident with fire, but I’m all right. Should we be talking out loud?”
“We have no choice, I’m afraid. This collar—should I use my mental abilities, it will unleash a burst of flame that will burn through my neck, or so the man who put it on me said, and I know that he believed it.”
“I didn’t get one of those. I feel so unimportant.”
“More likely, they need you alive,” Lakashtai said. “They may have concluded that you’d do something rash and kill yourself quickly, if you were equipped with such a device.”
“That does sound like me,” Daine admitted, considering his aborted escape attempt. “What do we do now?”
“We wait, and we see what this test is. Perhaps you are this chosen one they seek. I have heard far stranger tales.”
“Really? I’ve got two crowns in my purse that say otherwise.”
She smiled again. “Then I hope we’ll have time to put my claim to the test, but now, it seems we have arrived at our destination.”
The hall was a vast obsidian corridor, with no decorations or furnishings; it stretched forward into darkness, stretching on for hundreds of feet. A series of catwalks crisscrossed overhead, and Daine could see drow soldiers watching from above, crossbows at the ready. The ceiling stretched a short distance above the catwalks. Huge chunks of it were missing, revealing a view of a cloudy sky.
“Maybe it’ll rain,” Daine said to Lakashtai.
There was a line carved into the floor, and the guards prodded and pushed until Daine and Lakashtai crossed over it.
“Child of war!” Holuar called. “It is your destiny to open the Burning Gate, to unlock the path to the world beyond, but the way is blocked by hidden peril.” He produced a small bronze orb from the sleeve of his robe and flung it forward. The sphere fell to the floor, rolled fifteen feet, and suddenly dissolved into a pool of molten, bubbling metal. “The deadly walls cannot be seen and shift with every passing moment. Only the voice that speaks within you can guide you safely through, so listen, and walk, and find the way to victory.”
Daine turned around. “Invisible walls of death?”
Holuar spoke in the unknown tongue, and a wall of fire sprang up along the line carved in the ground, separating Daine and Lakashtai from the drow. The flames rose up to meet the catwalks and completely split the hallway. As Daine watched, it began to expand, creeping toward them inch by inch.
“Ah.” Daine said. He glanced at Lakashtai. “Any ideas?”
What is this place?” Pierce said.
The warforged had descended deep below the surface before coming to a large obsidian chamber with rough floors and a smooth, curved ceiling. The walls were filled with the reflections of ghostly flames—and it was these false fires that spread light across the room.
A vault, Harmattan replied. Though Pierce and Indigo had taken the lead, Harmattan and three of Hydra’s bodies were close behind. This land has seen many wars and rebellions. This is a storage facility, holding supplies … though we have come here to rescue a prisoner.
“A prisoner?” Pierce considered the level of brush they’d cut